


Of Characters and their Metaphorical Trolleys

by Rieux_Raven



Category: Bendy and the Ink Machine, Hannibal (TV), Invader Zim, Little Nightmares (Video Game), The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms, Villainous (Cartoon), Welcome to Night Vale
Genre: Character Study, Cussing, Gen, Minor Character Death
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-02-21
Updated: 2020-05-06
Packaged: 2021-02-28 03:09:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,139
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22826947
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rieux_Raven/pseuds/Rieux_Raven
Summary: We all know the classic psychological trolley dilemma where you only have two options, kill one save five or kill five save one. But what if instead of having only two options, how about we mix it up a little and ask what your first reaction would be? Better yet, lets ask what our favourite characters first reactions would be.Or in which I am bored and have too much time.
Comments: 6
Kudos: 9





	1. Mics, Swords, Paks, and Hats

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: Please note that I own none of these characters nor the classic hypothetical scenario that I am using that is obviously older than I am. 
> 
> Note: Also please excuse my poor grammar and any typos still present, this is also coincidentally my first work posted on this site so bear with me as I am unfamiliar with this platform. Please feel free to critique my work, and I am open to suggestions as to what I should write about in the future. Thank you for your time.

The trolley situation is an interesting one, a classic hypothetical situation in which you have the choice to sacrifice one person, or five. 

There are several different versions of this hypothetical question, but for the sake of simplicity we will be using the version in which you are on a bridge with a very large man, this bridge is one in which trolley tracks pass beneath it. Over on one side of the bridge you can see five workers doing their jobs on the train tracks, and on the other side you can see the trolley approaching with the workers unaware of the trolley.

At this point you are pushed into making one of two choices: Choice one is somehow you know that if you push this large man onto the tracks it will stop the trolley, but the man will die in the process. Choice two, is to simply let the trolley go by and the five workers will die.

However, this situation is oversimplified in nature, however popular it may be. As with any choice, there are always unknown variables that will affect your choice. However, with this scenario there is no other options nor variables to consider other than that someone will die regardless of what you do and that it is within your power to choose how many people die.

This scenario, with its oversimplifications, is obviously flawed in the fact that you only have two options. Therefore, I will make it more complicated by asking instead in this scenario: what is your first reaction? 

We begin the scenario with you on a bridge that sits overtop the trolley tracks with a rather large man. It is night time, and there is no one except the workers that work on the trolley tracks, and of course you and this unknown man that is busy turning the modest looking wedding band that sits on his finger distractedly. Currently, down below a ways away you can see five of the workers toiling away, looking like little fireflies from where you stand with their bright yellow lamps. You turn away from the sight and face the other side of the bridge, and just as you turn around, you see that an incoming trolley is alarmingly close. Neither the workers who are busy, nor the large man notice that the trolley is incoming. For fun's sake let's see what your favorite characters would probably do as their first reaction.

We will start with Welcome To Nightvale:

Cecil- Promptly returns to the Nightvale Radio Station to narrate the situation as it is happening while getting extremely descriptive about it.

Carlos- Freaks out like a normal person and tries to contact the Nightvale Secret Police for help after trying to get the large man on the bridge to help him warn the workers.

Hooded Figures- Screech in an incoherent garble that vaguely sounds like radio static as the rather large man tries to discreetly walk away without looking at the hooded figures.

Legend of Zelda:

Link- Goes on a long roundabout quest and either goes back in time or takes advantage of the short amount of time he has and somehow manages to save both everyone on the bridge, save all of Hyrule (or Termina, or anyplace he is in at the time), fix everyone's minor problems, and have spare time to just screw around at the end.

Zelda- Prophesied the event beforehand with her visions and does any of the following: send royal guards to deal with the problem by removing the workers from the vicinity, sends Link to deal with it, attempts to do it herself with help (only Tetra), deems the event a will of the goddesses or an inevitable event and does nothing but somehow mentions it to Link and Link promptly ends up doing the above.

Ganondorf- Honestly depends on his mood, general sanity level, if those workers are Gerudo, if the large man is King of Hyrule, and if that trolley has to do with anything pertaining to his master plan of conquering Hyrule. If he did somehow find reason to stop the trolley, he would either use magic to stop it, push the large man off (RIP King of Hyrule), turn into Ganon and stop the train himself (he really doesn't need to he's larger than the large man already, he's like 7'6 canonically), jump down and block the train himself with his twin swords (I really wouldn't put it past WW Ganondorf to do this and somehow manage to succeed in doing it without hurting himself), or use one of his lackeys to move the workers safely (The most sane solution, but is it his first? Probably not.). Otherwise, Ganondorf would just let the train pass without another thought or completely destroy it.

Invader Zim:

Zim- Assuming this has no correlation with Dib and GIR isn't around, Zim will either somehow manage to take everyone without a single trace, or at least take what he wants without anyone noticing; which is probably the trolley itself (Zim can be surprisingly competent when he wants to be as evidenced with the organ harvester episode) or just watch in fascination as the workers go splat as the trolley runs them over. If this has anything to do with Dib, however, he will probably fail at whatever he's doing unless it only affects Dib and no one else. If GIR is involved, things will just get even more ridiculous with his schemes and things will go sideways even quicker.

GIR- Does nothing and watches the trolley or tries to make the large man his friend.

Dib- If it doesn't involve Zim or the paranormal, then Dib will do nothing and accept that he can do nothing about the situation (because Dib seems to not have motivation, self-confidence, nor self-awareness it takes to do otherwise as he ironically enough seems to think he is as incapable as any other person to do something about it). Otherwise he will manage to thwart Zim in whatever he's doing unless it only affects Dib, but not without collateral damage nor will he be concerned with the people affected (dude never is, at least not with whatever happens to them after he saves them or if the damage Zim did was permanent or not unless it's his family affected).

Villainous:

Black Hat: Probably critiquing from his office the large man, who is a client with his plan of killing all five workers with said trolley after having the large man sign a contract and paying for the Black Hat Org. services and getting absolutely pissed off at the large man's incompetence when a few survive because the large man didn't think his plan through.

Dr. Flug: Assuming that trolley isn't from Black Hat Org. or run by another villain Dr. Flug probably won't do anything unless there are valuable parts on it, a plane related object on that trolley, if it is somehow related to him being a part of camp council, test subjects, or retrieving Demencia. However, if it is somehow related to a plane, Dr. Flug will get it himself the quickest way possible clients be damned. If there are just valuable parts or test subjects and no plane, Dr. Flug will just send in the Hat Bots. If it involves him and somehow the camp, Dr. Flug will most likely try to use the situation as a learning opportunity for the kiddos on villainy thus ending up with everyone except Dr. Flug and the kids dead surrounded by mass destruction. If it involves Demencia retrieval then Dr. Flug will either send the Hat Bots or if needed go himself and drag her back by the hair if need be.

Demencia- Unless she is preoccupied with something else, this woman will cause the most destruction possible to everyone and by the end of it she would have most likely blown up both the trolley, the bridge, and eat any survivors and then move on the the surrounding populated areas to provide a gift for Black Hat unless she needed to report back to the manor.


	2. Of Ink Stains, Chianti, and Raincoats

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: None of the characters in this work belong to me, they all belong to their respective creators.
> 
> What would Hannibal or Six do if they were in this situation? What has the man on the bridge gotten into this time?

Bendy and the Ink Machine:

Henry:   
Finally has his emotional breakdown, not because he is in turmoil over the trolley coming or anything he isn't really paying attention he's just glad to be out of that hellhole of a studio and see the sky and breathe fresh air that doesn't smell of ink. That and since he has the time to actually process the events he has gone through over and over without any imminent danger it's all hitting him at once. Unfortunately, this absolutely weirds out the large man and vaguely concerns him, and Henry's wailing cries actually alert the workers and somehow manage to catch sight of the trolley in time to move out of the way.

Bendy:   
Off-model Form- Completely terrifies the large man into a panicked stillness, and Bendy takes this opportunity to kill the man and moves on to go try and find Henry. This alerts the workers as it is extremely hard to ignore the giant ink demon walking around and they flee without him noticing.

On-model Form-  
Completely curious and bored, Bendy tries to converse with the large man and is completely oblivious to the danger the workers are in as he is too short to even see above the railing. The large man is now questioning his sanity and tries to ignore Bendy who he thinks is a hallucination. A few minutes later, Bendy walks off because he hates being ignored and leaves just as the trolley hits the workers which the large man sees. Immediately after the large man calls the police followed up with a new appointment for a therapist.

Joey:   
Joey tries to go up to the large man and make conversation. He charms the large man into working for/funding the studio and notices the trolley approaching the workers. Joey excuses himself before the trolley hits and leaves the large man with his business card and walks off the scene. The large man looks at the business card before hearing the trolley crash into the workers.

Hannibal (Show):

Will Graham:   
Walking his dogs (his numerous, extensive, vast amount of dogs-he had like 20 something by the end), he notices the large man staring in disbelief at the large amount of dogs being walked on the small bridge and ignores him. He crosses the bridge and goes home only to come back 20 mins later because Jack called him saying there has been another murder and has to investigate the trolley crash because it allegedly matches the MO of the previous murder.

Jack:  
Walks across the bridge, sees the trolley hit the workers, calls the police to handle it. It turns out to be a murder and he calls Will (I hate how Will is always being pulled away from his actual job to do analytical work for the literal head of the Behavioural Sciences, I mean isn't that how he got the job in the first place? Being good at his job?). Will comes in and Jack guilt trips him once again into pushing himself into looking.

Hannibal:  
Suggests to the rather large man who is one of his patients to kill his co-workers who are working on the railroad that day. The large man takes his advice and drugs his co-workers. He tells Hannibal his master plan and Hannibal encourages him (because he is a shameless enabler) and walks away off the bridge before Will or Jack arrive only to come back once Jack calls him. Hannibal uses this to his advantage to further manipulate and get under Will's skin.

Little Nightmares:

Six: Curious and used to danger, tries to escape the notice of the rather large man, much to his confusion and goes back to watching the workers. Six crosses the bridge and goes to the crash site once she hears the trolley crash. The man sees her go back and after calling the police he keeps her from running towards it. Six ends up in the adoption system and is eventually adopted and has to go to regular speech therapy sessions because she refuses to speak.

The Runaway Kid:

Sneaks by the rather large man without notice, and when the trolly crashes the Runaway kid takes his opportunity to book it since his attention is on the trolley crash and then runs as far as he can trying to avoid other people.

The Masked Lady:

Takes the opportunity to suck the soul out of the rather large man, then sees that the trolley is about to crash and goes down and sucks the souls out of the workers and then the people on the trolley. She leaves without a sound and then subsequently gets killed by six a little later.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm finally finished with this chapter.
> 
> I am sorry to all those I made wait, I was busy as I am sure you all are at some point. 
> 
> I realize that updates will be sparse so the next time I write I will be sure to post it once I am actually done with the entire thing and not just post what I have finished and then end up drowning in work and thus have to put off working on that chapter a little longer.
> 
> With dearest apologies,
> 
> The Author


End file.
